Sir John Bigham, the President of the Admiralty Division, at
the annual dinner of the Liverpool Shipbrokers' Benevolent Sir John Bigham, the President of the Admiralty Division, at the annual dinner of the Liverpool Shipbrokers' Benevolent Society on Saturday last, commented in very plain-spoken language on the growth of naval armaments. In the next few years the British Navy would be increased by about fifteen per cent., and the German Navy by about twenty per cent. :—
" We were assured by the Germans themselves that Germany had no intention of attacking us. We preferred to judge men's intentions rather by what they did than by what they said We needed an enormous Navy; Germany did not, and he was unable torand any explanation of the existence of her great Navy except that it was held in reserve for future use, and for a use which could not be agreeable to us. . . . Therefore we should spare no pains in keeping our Fleet up to the mark."
Sir John Bigham's speech has been adversely criticised in Radical journals as a serious indiscretion. We are quite unable to see anything in his plain, unemotional words of warning which is irreconcilable with the responsibilities of his position.
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